District Court denies summary judgement for excessive force and false arrest. The 5th circuit lacks jurisdiction to intervene
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) On March 15, 2018, defendants Justin Landrum, Josh Welch, Clint Hedgepeth, and John Windsor—officers of the Laurel Police Department—responded to a call about an unruly customer, Mekale Ducksworth, at the Rainforest Carwash in Laurel, Mississippi. Before seeing him, the officers believed that Ducksworth […]
1983 case cannot be dismissed based on minimal injuries
Facts Cameron Kemp appeals from a § 1983 action against Shreveport, Louisiana police officers Carlos Glass-Bradley, Daniel Albrecht, Ryan Holley, and Donald Belanger, Jr. Much of his ire is trained on two separate incidents. 2018 Incident First, Kemp claims that in 2018, the four officer defendants showed up at his house to arrest him on […]
Summary judgement granted for officer taking a noncompliant, physically resistant suspect to the ground
Facts On August 18, 2017, Bellaire police officer Travis Younger arrived at the scene of a traffic accident along Texas’s IH-610. Morgan Grice had rear ended another driver and badly smashed the front of her Subaru hatchback. Grice spoke to Officer Younger with slurred speech and her eyelids drooped. Officer Younger asked Grice several times […]
Cash seized via plain view but drug test kit was not properly seized under inventory search or search incident to arrest
Facts The Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) was provided information that Terrence Spidell Durham was involved in the distribution of cocaine. He allegedly attempted to buy multiple kilograms of cocaine in Houston, Texas to distribute on the East Coast. DEA agents began investigating Durham and coordinated with the Houston Police Department to surveil Durham, and he […]
Odor of marijuana provided the reasonable suspicion to extend the traffic stop
Facts Latorris Conley appeals his conviction of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, see 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and the resulting 70 months of imprisonment. Conley argues that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress the evidence seized from the search of the vehicle he was driving, contending that […]
Affidavit was not bare-boned and thus good faith exception applies
Facts Tylan Tilford entered a conditional guilty plea to possessing a firearm as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress evidence recovered from his residence pursuant to a search warrant. He contends the district court erred by applying the good-faith exception […]